5 Tips To Increase Your Engagement On Instagram (Updated for 2019)

Instagram works to show people the best content based on what they have been interacting with. Whenever you check your explore page (FOR YOU) you always see similar posts and nothing unrelated to your interests. The algorithm shows you these type of things to keep you engaged on the platform always so you do not leave. With this in mind, if you target accounts that are not related to your niche (e.g with sponsored posts) they may follow but they would not become loyal followers as Instagram would not show them your posts regularly since they have not originally been engaging with your type of content.

Instagram still needs your content to appeal to 10% of your audience before they show the rest. As I said above, Instagram always wants to show people the best content for their niche, so to determine this, if 10% of your followers would engage (like, comment, save, share) , then definitely the remaining 90% would engage too, if 10% does not engage then your post would be at the bottom of people’s timelines, hence poor engagement (Instagram would not hide it)

PS – Bear in mind this selection is random , so take note of people who have not been engaging with your posts, aka, “ghost followers”.

Reminder hack to get people’s attention.

If you notice a drop in engagement or your account is just not growing then you need to find a way to remind your followers about your page. Most times as the platform grows, your followers follow more people so Instagram has to determine the “best’ content to show them as they follow more people and your content may not always fall under this category (based on Instagram’s selection)

Here are some hacks you may or may not know about to get people’s attention :

Like old comments. People would always get a notification when you do this and they are likely to check your account and engage with your posts.

Go Live– when you go live you are at the top of your followers timeline, and they would notice your account once they login.

Post on stories. You want to do this multiple times daily to always pop up as a new post in the story grids. This will allow people see your page more and they would engage.

Giveaways/contests. Give away something of value that would be beneficial to a lot of your followers so they engage.

The algorithm would start showing these accounts your posts once they notice that they remember you.

Hashtags

Your hashtags need to be as specific as possible and related to your posts. If you follow my Instgaram, you may have come across my “weekly tips series” and the ones I shared on hashtags. Check here. Use 5 specific hashtags to help the algorithm determine where to rank your content.

Also, you want to add hashtags you already use on your posts in stories. This is not a new tip but many people have forgotten about this and it can easily help you rank high for specific hashtags.

By following hashtags in your niche, you would find more niche related accounts to engage with and they would most likely engage back. You would also show up as suggestions when people follow them so your audience would grow.

Source for active users that become loyal followers.

You want to look for people in your niche that are active users on the platform, engage with their followers content (active ones) and these people would most likely return the favor. Simple as that. There is a very high chance that they follow/engage back because they already like the kind of content you create. It may seem stressful at first but its worth it because you took action first and they retaliated, hence they become loyal followers.

Post on the right day at the right time.

I use and app called Prime to study the days and times I get the most engagement and I stick to posting at those periods. I recently recommended the app to someone and she couldn’t find it on the app store, so if you can’t find it try ‘Union Metrics’. It’s gives really insightful and useful analytics of your account. Click here https://unionmetrics.com/product/instagram-analytics/

Post quality content and have a cohesive feed.

Well, this is a no-brainer. We all know the power of really good content and how easily you can go viral with one. Using attention grabbing captions too and the right hashtags play a crucial role as well. So try to understand your audience and what content they prefer or engage with more on your page, then get better at creating such. Also invest in a good camera. If you don’t have one, invest in your phone for now, 80% of my pictures, I take and edit on my phone.
As for your feed, you need to give people a reason to follow when they visit your page and your feed sells your brand most of the time. I use a feed planner UNUM to to arrange and plan mine.

I hope these are helpful and you try them.

• Have you tried any of these methods/tips before?
• Did you find this post helpful?
• Which tip are you looking to try out soon?

This post is really helpful and comforting at the same time! Usually after reading help articles for growing an IG account I get so stressed out about everything I have to try and do. Thanks for making this helpful piece!

These are really excellent tips! Until recently I’ve been using my personal Instagram account to do blog related promotion, and it’s been holding me back; I haven’t wanted to do very many stories or go live for fear of annoying the people I know in real life. I’m in the process of planning a new blog Insta and I’m excited to give it my all and follow these tips. Thanks for sharing!